Set-top box devices and other media content access devices are often configured to provide users with access to a large number and variety of media content choices. For example, a user may choose to experience a variety of broadcast television programs, pay-per-view services, video-on-demand programming, Internet services, and audio programming via a set-top box device. Certain media content access devices include a digital video recording (“DVR”) application. In general, media content access devices with DVR applications (i.e. “DVR devices”) allow a user to record and then view or otherwise experience recorded media content. For example, a user may use a DVR device to schedule a recording of a particular television program, after which the DVR device may record the television program and allow the user to play back a presentation of the recorded television program in a time-shifted manner.
However, when starting and stopping recording operations based on a schedule of recordings, conventional DVR devices rely on rigid start times and stop times that fail to take into account the possibility that a particular television program may begin early and/or end late. As a result, DVR devices often “cut off” the beginning and/or ending of television programs that are recorded. Because the beginning and/or ending of a television program may contain information that is necessary to properly understand a plot, a storyline, and/or a resolution of the television program, viewing a recorded television program with the beginning and/or ending cut off can be frustrating and unfulfilling for a user.